People - Love'em or Hate'em?

Are you the type of person that comments on a regular basis, “you know, I really can’t stand people!” Perhaps you should consider whether or not this view impacts your success as a project manager and/or leader. I argue that it does.

I was just checking out Pete DeYoe’s blog and he has two recent entries that led me to this post. In his entry titled “Flock or Fleece”, he quotes:

Effective leaders are those interested in the flock – the people they are leading. They see their role as that of a giver – to get behind their people and support them in ways that bring out their best.

Ineffective leaders are interested only in the fleece and couldn’t care less about their flock – they’re takers…

The lesson here is to be a giver and show an interest in your flock. If you do, your flock will respond in ways that will guarantee your success as a leader.

Instant Turnaround, by Harry Paul and Ross Reck

The other article is called "Why Being a 'Good' Manager is 'Great'", which he posted after reading the book, “Lead Well and Prosper” by Nick McCormick.

I believe that being a good project manager who cares about people IS great. We all know that projects are hard and often involve strange hours and/or time away from what we really care about. If you are in a job where you aren’t sure you are doing as much for the world as you had hoped, look around. If you are genuinely interested in and care about people and their success and do everything you can to help them be successful while simultaneously understanding that sometimes people actually have lives outside of work, you are doing a GREAT thing for the world! You are doing your part to help to create a healthy work environment for people. When they feel good about coming to work, it truly is a gift that keeps on giving - for them, for you, for the project, for the company, for the world.

Do your team members feel good about working for and/or with you? What even slight change can you make right now, to bring out the best in people even more? Let me give you a hint…it’s not by “sheering“ them when they walk into your office…

Focus on the Positive

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... "Even something as familiar as a telephone system can present challenges for users when changes are introduced. To overcome this, we ran a number of demonstration days, where key individuals from the business were shown the full functionality of the system. " ...

Via iTnews Australia: IT is key

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... "The main point of PrinceLite is that it is oriented around the business community, and as such serves the project sponsors ­the people that pay the IT bill. " ...

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... "It is cause for alarm then that so many of those surveyed deliver IT projects late. Companies who succeed in accelerating IT project and service delivery have an advantage, while those who do not suffer at the hand of the competition. " ...

Via SAP INFO: Project Speed